Mill Valley man arrested in Novato ruckus over dogs and canaries

A Mill Valley man was arrested by Novato police Monday in a dispute over a Shih Tzu puppy, a Maltese dog and two canaries, authorities said.

Peter Lad Tallo, who turned 69 on Friday, was booked into Marin County Jail on suspicion of trespassing. An initial court appearance was pending.

The incident was Tallo's third arrest this month. On the morning of Dec. 5, he was arrested after allegedly yelling at his apartment manager and blocking traffic in the parking lot of the complex, the sheriff's department reported.

Later that day, sheriff's deputies arrested him at Marin Catholic High School on allegations of violating a court order in a child-custody matter and being a sex offender on a school campus.

After the arrest at the school, authorities asked the Marin Humane Society to take protective custody of Tallo's pets — the 3-month-old Shih Tzu, the 1-year-old Maltese and the two canaries.

The district attorney's office obtained an increase in Tallo's bail, to $7,500, but he was able to get released pending further hearings. On Sunday, he went to the Novato animal shelter to try to get his animals back, but he was not prepared to pay the impound fees, said Carrie Harrington, spokeswoman for the Marin Humane Society.

The staff asked Tallo several times to leave the shelter, and called Novato police when he would not go, Harrington said.

"He was informed that he was not allowed to return to MHS and that if he does, he will be arrested," she said.

But Tallo returned on Monday and wanted to enter the shelter, which is closed on Monday. Novato police Lt. Jennifer Welch said Tallo was yelling at the staff, and police came and arrested him for refusing to stay away from the shelter.

The shelter staff knew Tallo from a previous encounter a couple of weeks ago, when he came to the shelter to claim a different Maltese that had been found, Harrington said. He could not prove ownership, and the dog's implanted microchip showed it belonged to estranged family members in Tiburon.

"He came on three separate occasions on which we explained the same thing," Harrington said. "On the third occasion Mr. Tallo threatened bodily harm against an MHS employee. We asked him to leave and told him he was not welcome on the premises."

Tallo, who is retired, has a lengthy criminal history that includes convictions for annoying or molesting a child and domestic violence, according to court documents. His last jail or prison sentence for a violent crime was in 2001.

In 1982, he was charged with trying to kill his wife with a piece of wood, but the conviction was later reversed in a 2-1 ruling by an appeals panel. The majority ruled that Tallo had an ineffective lawyer who had failed to pursue a possible mental health defense.